The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1887-04-16
senr mrln 20 wcxnn.

On Friday, the 25th rilt.. we board
ed the Southern Pacific Railway for
short visit 70 Jewett and other points
in Texas, both for business and rccrea-
ton. We left Lake Charles at 4
O'Clock a. NJ, and after a pleasant ride
Of fourteen hours arrived at Jewett, in
Leon comply, at 6 p. m, distance
of 81 miles, where we spent the
night The next morning, bright and |
early, we took conveyance for RFldc
some ten miles distance into the coun-
Try TO the residence Of orr brother.in-
law, MIR J. Z. Shaw The stay at
this place, from Saturday to Wednes-
day, was Of the most pleasant nature,
it being with beloved sister and her
family of little ones whom we had not
seen for twenty years.
From MIR. Shaw's we returned to
Jewett, where wcboarded the train for
Hearne, and from that place, on the
Both, we took the II. I. C. road for
Forth Worth, a beautiful and thirty
ing city noted for its enterprise and
magnificent buildings. After spend
ing few hours in that city sight-see-
ing, we proceeded to Abiline, pretty
little city in Taylor comfy, that
formerly had a population of about
1000, but owing to the severe drouth
it has been greatly reduced and now
has only about 1000 inhabitants left. |
There has been no rain in that section
of the State for eighteen months, yet
the people there were hopeful and ex-
pected to get rain in time to- plant corn
and cotton and make good crops this
season.
We spent day IN Abeline viewing
the city and the beautiful scenery of
thesurrounding country. Abelino has
a 100000 court house, and many
other handsome buildings, and but for
the drouth that section would blossom
like the rose. We had the pleasure
while there of forming quite number
of pleasant acquaintance, among
whom was the editor of the Reporter,
a lively and wide-awake newspaper,
which is doing much good for that
section.
The entire route traversed by US
was more or less dotted with farms,
bnt owing to the extremely dry
weather farmers did not seem to be
as energetic and moving ahead with
that push they would otherwise be
exercising if the season had been
favorable one. The drouth reaches as
far east as Fort Worth, but should it
rain soon las it has since our visit
crops will be good in that section and
all along the Santa Fee Railroad coun-
try. The country along this road,
beginning at Fort Worth, seems to
be the garden spot of Texas and if
it were not for these periodical
drouths, would be the finest farming
country in the world.
After an absence of ten days, spent
mostly in travel and general obserVa-
ton, we returned home better pleased
and more thoroughly convinced that
our own old Calcasieu comes nearer
being the poor mans paradise than
any section we saw while in Texas
However, before closing, We must
say that there was one thing which
impressed us more than any other, ex-
cept the unprecedented drouth in
Western Texas, and that was the taste
manifested by county officials in their
public buildings. Towns with from
four to five hundred inhabitants, with
fine court houses, costing from S45,-
600 to $4,000, and jails to cores
pond, are common things to see, while
those of more pretentions, say with a
population of $1,000 or 10000 inhab-
itants, with public buildings that
would do credit to cities of $4,000
inhabitants. This fact alone speaks
well for Texas, and is worthy of emn.
3 lation by progressive towns in Loui-
/, siana.